{"id":2373,"date":"2016-01-02T12:31:23","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T12:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/?p=2373"},"modified":"2016-01-02T12:31:23","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T12:31:23","slug":"mar-baselius-of-caesarea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/?p=2373","title":{"rendered":"Mar Baselius of Caesarea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"st<\/a><\/p>\n

Mar Baselius of Caesarea<\/span><\/strong>
\n(St. Basil, the Great – Ca. 330-379)<\/span><\/strong>
\nMar Baselius, one of the towering giants of ancient Christianity, was an Asian by birth. He is one of the Cappodocian fathers. Cappodocia was a province of Asia (present – day Turkey). His parents lived in Caesarea, the capital of the province. It was a remarkable family. Mar Baselius\u2019 father the elder Basil, had five sons and five daughters. Three of the sons became bishops – Mar Baselius in Caesaria, Mar Gregorios in Nyssa and Mar Pethros in Sebaste. The eldest sister of Mar Baselius, Martha Makarina, deserves a chapter to herself, for she was both a saint and a scholar, the founder of monastic communities for women, and the teacher of her brothers who became bishops. Even as a bishop, says Mar Gregorios, he learned from his sister the great mysteries of the faith.<\/span>
\nMar Baselius was educated in the best pagan schools of his time, and was thus one of the most educated of his contemporaries. He studied first from his father and grandmother, who were themselves both great scholars. He then studied in his native Caesarea, then moved to Constantinople, and finally to Athens, the centre of all learning at that time.<\/span>
\nAfter all his studies, which he completed with the greatest honours, he returned to his native Caesarea, proud as a peacock as his own brother says. He began his career as a rhetorician (secular professor) in his own native Caesarea, but as Mar Baselius himself says in his letter (no. 223).<\/span>
\n\u201cI had wasted much time on follies and spent nearly all my youth in vain labours, and devotion to the teachings of a wisdom that God has made foolish. Suddenly I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the Gospel truth, and I recognized the nothingness of the wisdom of the princes of this world that was come to naught. I shed a flood of tears over my wretched life, and I prayed for a guide who might form in me the principles of piety.\u201d<\/span>
\nHe was soon baptized, after having been duly instructed by his sister Makarina. He then travelled in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia to learn from the many monks who lived in these parts.<\/span>
\nWhen he returned, he distributed his wealth among the poor (he was a very rich man) and went in to solitude for prayer and fasting. Soon others joined him, including his friend and classmate Mar Gregorios of Nazianzus, though only temporarily. The community grew and it became a great spiritual centre of Christianity in Asia. Mar Baselius wrote, in co-operation with Mar Gregorios Nazianzen, the rules for a monastic community. These rules are the basis for all eastern monasticism, and for some forms of western monasticism like that of the Benedictines.<\/span>
\nIn a short time he founded other monasteries, and his sister Makarina started a convent for women across the river from the men\u2019s monastery.<\/span>
\nTogether they established hospitals for the sick, nursing homes for lepers, homes for the poor, hotels for travellers and strangers; and the monasteries soon became a spiritual city, where the poor and the destitute praised God for His wonderful ways.<\/span>
\nIn addition to his great learning and spirituality, St. Basil was, like Mar Athanasius, a man of very great personal courage. He stood up to the Emperor Valens when pressured to support the Arian heresy. When the Emperor sent his Viceroy to threaten Mar Baselius with confiscation of goods, torture and exile, Basil replied that he had nothing to be confiscated except a cloak and a few books, and as for exile, anywhere in the world would be his home. As for torture, he said his body would give up its life at the first blow, and that Modestus the Viceroy would be doing him a favour by sending him off to God so quickly.<\/span>
\n\u201cDeath would be an act of kindness, for it will bring me nearer to God, for whom I live, and for whom I have been created, … and to whom I hasten.\u201d<\/span>
\nThe pagan Modestus was surprised by this bold answer and said: \u201cNo one has spoken to me with such boldness before.\u201d Mar Baselius replied:<\/span>
\n\u201cPerhaps you have never met a Christian bishop before. Fire, swords, beasts and the instruments for tearing the flesh we desire as delights rather than horrors. Afflict us, torture us, threaten, do all you can, enjoy your power, but let the Emperor also know that in no way can you win us over to embrace untruth, though you threaten with the cruellest deeds.\u201d<\/span>
\nThat was the end of the Emperor\u2019s opposition to Basil. Both the Emperor and the Viceroy were deeply impressed. On another occasion the Viceroy (Prefect) of Pontus threatened St. Basil, by calling him to court and saying, \u201cI will tear out your liver.\u201d St. Basil\u2019s reply: \u201cPlease do, it gives me much trouble where it is.\u201d<\/span>
\nMar Baselius bowed to no one. He once appealed to Pope Damasus in Rome to intervene to settle some of the quarrels in the East. Pope Damasus\u2019 reply was, as was often the case with papal letters in those days, a bit superior sounding. Mar Baselius\u2019 reaction is in his epistle no: 239, addressed to a fellow-bishop:<\/span>
\n\u201cThe news of the West you know already. … Really lofty souls, when they are courted, get haughtier than ever. … If the Lord be propitious to us, what other thing do we need? If the anger of the Lord lasts on, what help can come to us from the arrogance of the west? …\u201d<\/span>
\nMar Baselius\u2019 great theological contributions were three:<\/span>
\n(a) Against Arius and his disciples he established the full deity of Christ. He thus completed the work of Mar Athanasius.<\/span>
\n(b) He established clearly the deity of the Holy Spirit.<\/span>
\n(c) Thus he established a full doctrine of Holy Trinity as three hypostases in one ousia.<\/span>
\nHe was also a great monk who laid down the basic principles of community monasticism – a balance between prayer, study and work and the need to serve one\u2019s fellowmen by working with one\u2019s own hands. He was a great man, very learned very aristocratic, who lived in simplicity and poverty. His humility was not on the surface. He was regarded as a proud man, but his heart was truly humble.<\/span>
\nMar Baselius died on Jan 1, 379, about six years after Mar Athanasius had died.<\/span><\/p>\n

(From\u00a0The Faith of Our Fathers<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Dr. Paulos Mar Gregorios<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mar Baselius of Caesarea (St. Basil, the Great – Ca. 330-379) Mar Baselius, one of the towering giants of ancient Christianity, was an Asian by birth. He is one of … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-2373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-teachers","tag-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2375,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373\/revisions\/2375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}